My Fishless Cycle

[Myfishdied]

Use a bio filter

 

[gixer]

still makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

total nonsense... cutting down on water changes??

1 water change is needed to fishless cycle...and that is when it is over...

 

[luxum]

still makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

total nonsense... cutting down on water changes??

1 water change is needed to fishless cycle...and that is when it is over...

Well, there are other times when a water change may be warranted during a fishless cycle. For instance, if you have a super high spike of nitrite you might want to dilute it a bit since the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate are known to actually be inhibited by overly high levels of nitrite. Another reason is to keep your Ph relatively stable, especially if you have plants in there. The conversion processes of the bacteria cause Ph to drop, the harder you cycle it, the worse the Ph drop. The Ph in my tank dropped (while fishless cycling using the 5ppm method) from 8.0 to 7.0 in 5 days, and this is well buffered water we are talking about.

 

[gixer]

still makes absolutely no sense whatsoever

total nonsense... cutting down on water changes??

1 water change is needed to fishless cycle...and that is when it is over...

Well, there are other times when a water change may be warranted during a fishless cycle. For instance, if you have a super high spike of nitrite you might want to dilute it a bit since the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate are known to actually be inhibited by overly high levels of nitrite. Another reason is to keep your Ph relatively stable, especially if you have plants in there. The conversion processes of the bacteria cause Ph to drop, the harder you cycle it, the worse the Ph drop. The Ph in my tank dropped (while fishless cycling using the 5ppm method) from 8.0 to 7.0 in 5 days, and this is well buffered water we are talking about.

again....still completly pointless..

why confuse people about fishless cycling?

its easy to do...ignore ph..ignore nitrate... i stand by what i said...no need for waterchange unless you make a drastic mistake..

people get so confused reading stuff on fishless cycling..don't add to their confusion..Dont put them off, its hardly rocket science.

 

[luxum]

As i said, sometimes the nitrites get too high and can inhibit the growth of the nitrite converting bacteria, and the cycle stalls. Yes, eventually the colony will catch up, but you can speed the process by lowering the nitrite concentration to something reasonable. I have plants in my tank that i care about so i'm not going to ignore the Ph and have all my crypts melt on me. Diluting the nitrates was a secondary concern, but with nitrates that high and more to come from the huge nitrite spike, there was no problem with a water change, i'll have to do several after i'm done anyway and the total nitrates that have to be diluted in the end will be lower because i removed some of the nitrite and nitrate. It wasn't pointless at all, and if people have done the most rudimentary reading on the subject it won't be confusing to hear about my reasons for water change in this specific circumstance. The water change had a specific purpose - to keep the Ph in the normal range for my tank, and to dilute ridiculously high nitrites. My way is not the only way, but neither is it invalid.

 

[gixer]

i appreciate what you are saying... however the original bit in this topic i found strange was when somebody said add plants to save on water changes before adding the fish... how can you save on them...after a fishless cycle you will ALWAYS have to do a massive waterchange regardless if if plants are present or not...

aslo the ph will quite often fluctuate in a cycling tank...

ah well,,,

 

[luxum]

i appreciate what you are saying... however the original bit in this topic i found strange was when somebody said add plants to save on water changes before adding the fish... how can you save on them...after a fishless cycle you will ALWAYS have to do a massive waterchange regardless if if plants are present or not...

aslo the ph will quite often fluctuate in a cycling tank...

Yes, i agree with that point. Plants do make it go faster, i think it happens because they are usually a good seeding source themselves and because they remove some of the cycle chemicals directly which may help to reduce the large spikes. But you are right, either way, if you've produced a sizeable colony, there are going to be large water changes in your future. I wasn't real sure what the previous poster was trying to say with the plants and water changes either. I just wanted people to realize that the rules for this aren't set in stone, usually no water changes are needed until completion, but sometimes it may be useful to do one for various reasons.

Regarding my Ph, i have never seen it below 7.8, before, and that was very aged water i tested. It's usually 8.0 to 8.2. I have actually fishless cycled this tank before and my Ph only dropped to 8.0. However, i've made a major change to the tank since then. The first time was a fishless cycle with the filtration which is built into an Eclipse hood. (Very crappy in the big hoods, but great for the tiny little betta aquariums, ime.) This time, i'm using the same recipe, but cycling my ECCO (coarse sponge, substratpro, more substratpro, fine sponge). The spikes are huge in comparison, that's one heck of a colony forming there. So i suspect the much more pronounced Ph drop is tied to the much larger media surface area and efficiency of the canister. Which is neither here nor there, just felt like explaining.

 

[leanne]

I guess everyone does it different. Whatever works is fine. Speaking from the viewpoint of a biochemist (an someone on metered water) plants do cut the nitrate - thus reducing the water change needed proir to adding fish - I'm talking volume here.

Please do not gang up on poeple with differing views - simply point out your own and leave it at that. Let people make an informed choice... Saying "nonsense" and "makes no sense whatsoever" is not helpful - explain why... Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that its sense-less...

 

[luxum]

Yes, the plants will absorb some nitrates, but if you have cycled hard, that will be the proverbial drop in the bucket. Plants aren't going to absorb ~enough~ of the high nitrate levels you end up with to make any practical difference, you'll still have to do a lot of water changes at the end, i speak from experience.

 

[gixer]

I guess everyone does it different. Whatever works is fine. Speaking from the viewpoint of a biochemist (an someone on metered water) plants do cut the nitrate - thus reducing the water change needed proir to adding fish - I'm talking volume here.

Please do not gang up on poeple with differing views - simply point out your own and leave it at that. Let people make an informed choice... Saying "nonsense" and "makes no sense whatsoever" is not helpful - explain why... Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean that its sense-less...

i stand by what i said... it makes no sense whatsoever...

a whole tank full of plants will not cut out the need for a huge waterchange at the end of a fishless cycle.. regardless if its 50% or 99%... but i very much doubt the gap would even be that high..

was completly missleading information